


Only Human

by ghiblitears



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hugs, Post-Season 4, Season/Series 04, katt if you squint, someone hug them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 03:34:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12547916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghiblitears/pseuds/ghiblitears
Summary: In the aftermath of the Naxzela battle, Keith needs a shoulder to lean on. Matt provides.





	Only Human

**Author's Note:**

> Because you can’t tell me Keith was fine after what happened in the season 4 finale. Have some Katt comfort.
> 
> Unbeta’d and written on my phone. Enjoy!
> 
> (You can read this as platonic or romantic! I left the tag platonic because nothing overtly shippy happens.)

Reality doesn’t hit Keith until he’s back home, standing onboard the Castle of Lions again.

He leans against the wall, heart racing, and fists his hand against the chestplate of his Marmoran armour as if that will slow it. His breath comes in gasps, harsh, stilted, like he’s just surfaced from deep water. The hood falls over his eyes, over his hair damp with sweat. His free hand claws against the wall for a hold. After they’d landed he’d immediately ducked away from the rest of the crew; he needed time, a couple minutes to stop and sort through what had just happened.

He’d almost gotten himself killed.

That’s the first time he thinks of it that way, unclouded by desperation, stripped from the instincts that had taken over in the fight. Someone had to do something; better him than the entirety of the rebellion, than his teammates, than his friends—

Keith claps a hand over his mouth and tastes copper, sharp and metallic.

It wasn’t a self-destructive impulse; at least, that’s what he tells himself. It was logic, above all else. What was one life to every life in the entire galaxy? The same equation had come up over and over again, and now that the team didn’t even need him for Voltron, he could afford to make sacrifices.

That doesn’t mean he enjoyed the idea. His trembling hands and shaky breaths spell that out clearly enough.

He’s not sure how long he stays there, how long he stays away from prying eyes, but there’s a commotion at the end of the hall and suddenly someone is running towards him, skidding slightly on the smooth castle floors. A dark-clad figure stops in front of him and Keith is startled when a pair of hands grab his shoulders.

“Don’t do that!” Matt gasps, out of breath. “You can’t try and sacrifice yourself in front of me anymore, you almost gave me a heart attack!”

Keith blinks, momentarily confused, before he sees Matt’s expression change from reprimanding to surprised as he takes in Keith’s unsteady form. Matt himself doesn’t look too much better — his brown eyes are wide, his face harrowed and shiny with sweat, and he looks like he’s keeping himself upright through sheer force of will — but he didn’t almost fly his ship into a forcefield. And he knows it, judging by the concern his face illustrates.

“Are you okay?” he asks, leaning in a little closer. 

Keith becomes aware that he’s shaking, shuddering slightly under the day’s events. 

“God, of course you’re not okay.” And then he’s pulled into an embrace. Matt’s arms lock around him, one over his shoulders and one coming to rest partway up his back. The thick fabric of his rebel clothes is coarse and scratches Keith’s exposed face where it’s pressed into Matt’s shoulder. He seizes up slightly in the sudden contact, his arms at his sides.

They stay like that. It should be weird, Keith thinks, mainly because he’s inclined on instinct to shy away from contact from anyone other than Shiro. But he kind of doesn’t care, because he finds himself eventually falling into the embrace. He tightens his fists in the draped fabric at the small of Matt’s back. It’s comfort, simple and clean.

“I had to do something,” Keith says, whisper-quiet, and doesn’t miss the way his voice wavers. “They were going to wipe us out.”

Matt says nothing for a long time, still holding him close. When he finally speaks it’s in a calming, matter-of-fact tone;

“Have you heard of Straif?”

Keith shakes his head.

“It’s a planetoid in the Yzral belt. Tiny, kind of insignificant, a pretty small alien population. I went there on one of my first missions.”

As he speaks he starts rubbing slow circles on Keith’s back, maneuvering around the plating of his Marmoran armour. Despite himself, Keith begins to relax.

“The Galra had set up some kind of anti-spacecraft defense system on the surface there. We wanted to hit it hard and fast and then get the hell out — Olia didn’t want us to take unnecessary risks. But we messed up.”

Matt pauses, breathes in and out, before continuing. His breath ghosts Keith’s hair.

“It was just like what you tried to do, except I made the call.” His hand drops from Keith to rise unconsciously to his face, to graze the scar that cuts his cheek. “And when they pulled me out of the wreck I wasn’t sure what had happened. Nothing made sense until I was back at the base, and then I felt pretty much exactly like you do.”

Keith digs his hands into the draping rebel uniform.

“You did something incredibly brave,” Matt says. “But don’t forget that we care about you too. That we need you.”

It’s a sentiment that’s been spelled out for him many times over the past year, and yet when it comes on the heels of such a terrifying experience it feels different. Something inside Keith releases, a tension he hadn’t known he’d been harbouring for a long time — hell, since he’d joined the Blade — and it leaves him when he exhales.

Matt breaks their embrace, but keeps his hands on Keith’s shoulders at arm’s length. His eyes find Keith’s, kind but still concerned. “You gonna be okay?” he asks.

“I think so.”

“Come talk to me if you need to. Or Shiro. Or anyone, really — shock is a hell of a thing, and you’ll feel better if you do.”

Keith nods. 

He knows Matt from his time at the Garrison — sort of. Their friendship is mostly in passing and primarily through Shiro, so it’s not like they’ve had time to hang out by themselves. But he sees the ease in how Matt comforts, how he knows what to say. He’d be in good hands if he needed to talk.

A small smile works its way to his face when he meets his gaze. “Thanks.”

And Matt returns the smile. “Anytime.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: ghiblirey  
> VLD-only sideblog: espressopidge  
> come yell at me about katt


End file.
